Low, left....solved?

Millie

Get on with your life!!!
Supporting Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2017
Messages
11,577
Location
NC
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
Ok, I've been crabby for a while about my shooting pretty consistently low and left. Well, yesterday, we figured it out! It's not the sights (which we all knew anyway, really), since my trainer shot dead center with my teeny gun. Lol.

It turns out that I just shoot better one-handed...either hand! A whole lot better. I have no idea why, but since it's working, I'm going back and see if I can do it some more. Targets from yesterday and today to follow.

Have a nice day, y'all!
 
Has he not told you that low left is 100% your trigger squeeze? I used to shoot low left with any and every pistol. Didn’t matter. Kept shooting and working on pulling straight back and not flinching. Problem solved. Now, I can empty a mag on a torso sized target in a 5-6” group in a few seconds.

Only way to overcome flinching and bad trigger pull is exposure to shooting the weapon
 
Ok, I've been crabby for a while about my shooting pretty consistently low and left. Well, yesterday, we figured it out! It's not the sights (which we all knew anyway, really), since my trainer shot dead center with my teeny gun. Lol.

It turns out that I just shoot better one-handed...either hand! A whole lot better. I have no idea why, but since it's working, I'm going back and see if I can do it some more. Targets from yesterday and today to follow.

Have a nice day, y'all!
I'm enjoying the reports of your journey. Thanks for sharing them. :)

Strangely, I've also found most of my guns shoot better one-handed. I have only one problem with that...

None of the hands are mine. :(
 
It’s your inner Clint Eastwood coming out...
Could be!
Maybe time to rethink your next purchase. ;)

imgrc0068165904.jpg
 
Has he not told you that low left is 100% your trigger squeeze? I used to shoot low left with any and every pistol. Didn’t matter. Kept shooting and working on pulling straight back and not flinching. Problem solved. Now, I can empty a mag on a torso sized target in a 5-6” group in a few seconds.

Only way to overcome flinching and bad trigger pull is exposure to shooting the weapon
Oh yes, he's told me, and we've worked on it for awhile. I'm not flinching as much lately, and we're still trying to find the right spot on my finger....it seems to migrate from one lesson to the next! I did shoot better with a bigger, heavier gun. And he had me try one with a flat trigger.

So I've been to the range 3 times this week. And I'll probably go 3 times next week too....

My coach really has his work cut out for him, I'm sure I'm his "problem student"...lol. But one-handed, I'm pretty good and even heard "outstanding" yesterday, so I'm getting there.
 
I do the same thing. When I really concentrate on my support hand grip, shots usually will center up.
 
Not me, I fixed that issue pretty well. Tilley's changing of my grip and arm/shoulder alignment and a few drills I figured out to reduce the flinch and I'm shooting better than ever these days.
So are you going to pass on any of this wisdom to me??? Lol. I have an occasional flinching issue.
Give!
 
I do the same thing. When I really concentrate on my support hand grip, shots usually will center up.
Coach says my grip is ok, but he wants me to keep my trigger finger parallel to the ground, as it tends to sort of torque up and in...if that makes sense? It may be pushing the barrel to the left. I'm working on that in my solo renge sessions. He also loads up magazines with a mix of live rounds and dummy rounds, so I can get a nice little "surprise" and he can watch what happens. Sometimes he can see the barrel dip, and sometimes it doesn't...but now that I'm aware of it, I can sometimes see "the dip" myself. Lol. Who knew this was going to be so complicated? It's fascinating, though. If it wasn't me "dipping" and low left-ing I'd be even more fascinated...Lol.
 
So are you going to pass on any of this wisdom to me??? Lol. I have an occasional flinching issue.
Give!

The live/dummy round thing you're already doing is one. The other I do I squeeze the trigger for a shot, then release before it actually goes off. Squeeze a little harder, release before it goes off. Eventually I'm "wrong" about the amount of squeeze and it fires. Basically like the dummy rounds in the mag but I can do it at any time. I also find that the 'release' is very important when it doesn't fire. I don't just release pressure all at once and 'flinch' in the reverse direction, I slowly let the pressure go. That's really what helped me I think, getting used to a controlled reset as well, not just jumping off the trigger after the shot is fired. Follow through.

The third is riding the reset. The shot breaks, hold the trigger back, slowly release until the reset, then stop. Then either take another shot after a second or two OR, just release pressure like in the other drill. This lets me practice getting prepped for a follow up shot but then only taking it if needed and in a controlled manor. Not just jumping off the trigger, then slapping it again to try to get that 2nd shot off.

I'm using the stock G34 trigger which makes this easier. If I pick up someone else's glock with a fancy apex gnat-butt light trigger I end up dumping rounds into the berm between targets or doing other dumb stuff because I'm trying to prep or catch the reset while transitioning between targets and the trigger is too light.

The changes to my grip/arms/shoulders is just too difficult to describe in text.
 
The live/dummy round thing you're already doing is one. The other I do I squeeze the trigger for a shot, then release before it actually goes off. Squeeze a little harder, release before it goes off. Eventually I'm "wrong" about the amount of squeeze and it fires. Basically like the dummy rounds in the mag but I can do it at any time. I also find that the 'release' is very important when it doesn't fire. I don't just release pressure all at once and 'flinch' in the reverse direction, I slowly let the pressure go. That's really what helped me I think, getting used to a controlled reset as well, not just jumping off the trigger after the shot is fired. Follow through.

The third is riding the reset. The shot breaks, hold the trigger back, slowly release until the reset, then stop. Then either take another shot after a second or two OR, just release pressure like in the other drill. This lets me practice getting prepped for a follow up shot but then only taking it if needed and in a controlled manor. Not just jumping off the trigger, then slapping it again to try to get that 2nd shot off.

I'm using the stock G34 trigger which makes this easier. If I pick up someone else's glock with a fancy apex gnat-butt light trigger I end up dumping rounds into the berm between targets or doing other dumb stuff because I'm trying to prep or catch the reset while transitioning between targets and the trigger is too light.

The changes to my grip/arms/shoulders is just too difficult to describe in text.
 
How can I tell it's going to go off until it does?
 
How can I tell it's going to go off until it does?

Dry fire it, a lot. I was doing 100+ dry fires every night for over 2 months. It's a ton more work than swapping the trigger out, but you do learn better trigger control so you can fire everything better going forward. Even my 12-14 pound DA wheel gun triggers seem manageable now.

That said, when I had to change my grip/yada/yada I couldn't dry fire as long because everything would get sore and tired quickly. Body wasn't used to being in a different position and applying different forces. It's getting better though, and the drop in accuracy for a few months has been well worth the advantages I'm seeing of the new methods and I've already made up all the ground I lost in the change over.
 
You should feel a “wall” and then the slightest trigger movement afterwards. And then a boom. At the wall is where a lot of people end up jerking the trigger. If you get to the wall and just barely keep the finger moving “pressing through” the tension the shot should surprise you. Eventually you will have muscle memory on how much travel you get after the wall and then you can do same with the trigger reset. Then you go Ricky Bobby fast.
 
The single thing that we try to get new shooters to understand is to LET the gun go bang and not MAKE the gun go bang.
Interesting that you should say that....yesterday he was telling me I have to let the gun do what it's going to do, then get back on the target and fire again. Once I did that, I could feel/see how it went up and then I could bring it back down. Hard to write this up, but I got a whole new sensation in that lesson. The gun is going to move, and if I try to make it not move, it's not going to go well. I could really see it with the p320, and it went way up, but I could get it to do what I wanted if I let it do its thing....sounds weird to try to describe.....
 
You should feel a “wall” and then the slightest trigger movement afterwards. And then a boom. At the wall is where a lot of people end up jerking the trigger. If you get to the wall and just barely keep the finger moving “pressing through” the tension the shot should surprise you. Eventually you will have muscle memory on how much travel you get after the wall and then you can do same with the trigger reset. Then you go Ricky Bobby fast.
I'm going to "feel" for this on Monday....but if I get a surprise with the shot, won't that make me flinch/jerk/whatever?
Lol @ Ricky Bobby.
How are you, btw?
 
I'm going to "feel" for this on Monday....but if I get a surprise with the shot, won't that make me flinch/jerk/whatever?
Lol @ Ricky Bobby.
How are you, btw?

Nope. The idea is that steady press through the breaking point of the trigger. Your flinch is anticipating the recoil and tensing up your hand/pulling the trigger to the side when you jerk it instead of steadily slowly pulling through the trigger break this causes the muzzle to move prior to the shot. The shot surprising you is a good thing as long as you have a quality sight picture when the gun goes off. You can do this with dryfire. Or with a laser training cartridge. (I’m a big fan of those and SIRT pistols).

One of the big things I took away from @apachesolutions is once you get to the wall. Verbally say the words slow, steady, trigger press. While slowly and steadily pressing through the wall and that minimal amount of movement past it. The gun will fire while you are talking to yourself and there will be no anticipation of recoil. Make sure you have a good grip tho. Don’t want the gun to fly out of your hand. (Kidding.. kinda...)

I highly recommend you spend a little time with Tim (or Frank) at Apache. He can give you some great ways to stop the flinch/anticipation of recoil. Has a lot of great drills to resolve that. (Many you can do at home without a live fire range) But I can’t give away all his tips/tricks [emoji6].

I’m doing a little better each day. Thanks for asking! Gonna spend the weekend with my little ones. Then back to Utah for a few days. Then it’s back to normal work/Home life.
 
Nope. The idea is that steady press through the breaking point of the trigger. Your flinch is anticipating the recoil and tensing up your hand/pulling the trigger to the side when you jerk it instead of steadily slowly pulling through the trigger break this causes the muzzle to move prior to the shot. The shot surprising you is a good thing as long as you have a quality sight picture when the gun goes off. You can do this with dryfire. Or with a laser training cartridge. (I’m a big fan of those and SIRT pistols).

One of the big things I took away from @apachesolutions is once you get to the wall. Verbally say the words slow, steady, trigger press. While slowly and steadily pressing through the wall and that minimal amount of movement past it. The gun will fire while you are talking to yourself and there will be no anticipation of recoil. Make sure you have a good grip tho. Don’t want the gun to fly out of your hand. (Kidding.. kinda...)

I highly recommend you spend a little time with Tim (or Frank) at Apache. He can give you some great ways to stop the flinch/anticipation of recoil. Has a lot of great drills to resolve that. (Many you can do at home without a live fire range) But I can’t give away all his tips/tricks [emoji6].

I’m doing a little better each day. Thanks for asking! Gonna spend the weekend with my little ones. Then back to Utah for a few days. Then it’s back to normal work/Home life.
I'm glad things are getting better.
And I'll check into Apache, though I think they're kind of far from here.
 
And stop looking for the bang and the hole. Do it right and they will both be there.
Well, I can never see where they hit until I run out of rounds, then I have to drag the target closer! I can't see the holes till later anyway.
"Looking for the bang" doesn't make sense to me....can you tell me more?
 
Well, I can never see where they hit until I run out of rounds, then I have to drag the target closer! I can't see the holes till later anyway.
"Looking for the bang" doesn't make sense to me....can you tell me more?


You are anticipating it. That is the reason for the drill were you have someone else load your weapon. In the case of a revolver they load a few rounds and skip a hole or two. Then hand it to you. You fire it without looking to see where the rounds are that way you never know when it will go off or when the hammer will fall on an empty chamber. If you flinch when it falls on an empty you were looking for the bang.
 
You are anticipating it. That is the reason for the drill were you have someone else load your weapon. In the case of a revolver they load a few rounds and skip a hole or two. Then hand it to you. You fire it without looking to see where the rounds are that way you never know when it will go off or when the hammer will fall on an empty chamber. If you flinch when it falls on an empty you were looking for the bang.
Oh, ok....well, sometimes I see the barrel dip with the dummy rounds, and sometimes not, so maybe it's getting better.
Thanks! Hope pt is going well.
 
It has been tuff and getting more aggressive. But I guess it needs to be. I am starting to hurt a little though.
I'm quite sure you can handle it, and the end result will be great! Do "belly breathing" for the pain....lol...works for me.
 
I am only at about 1 to2 on a 10 scale. I have been doing the pain thing for a lot of years. I will be ok.
Then you're a lucky man! Not that you have pain, but that it's a 1-2! Lol.
Of course you'll be ok!
 
I'm going to "feel" for this on Monday....but if I get a surprise with the shot, won't that make me flinch/jerk/whatever?
Lol @ Ricky Bobby.
How are you, btw?
 
Back
Top Bottom